SNP activist Willie McRae uncovered a paedophile ring within the Scottish judiciary before his mysterious death in 1985, one of his oldest friends said last night.

Donald Blair has claimed McRae was killed to stop him revealing high-profile paedos

Donald Blair spoke out publicly for the first time following claims the lawyer was killed to prevent him from identifying high-profile sex offenders north and south of the Border.

Our sensational story revealed possible links between the Nationalist firebrand and the Westminster child abuse network that is said to have existed in the early 1980s.

Last night Mr Blair, 67, revealed more evidence to support the theory that McRae knew of the disgraceful crimes being committed by some of Britain’s most powerful figures.

He said: “Willie told me perhaps two or three years before his death that he had come across information on this paedophile ring in the Scottish judiciary. Those were his worlds.

“He was appalled by it. He was aware of sexual abuse going on – there is no doubt about that.

“Whether it was what led to his death, I do not know. I certainly do not believe he took his own life, and I think the only way we’d get to the bottom of what happened is if somebody involved in this came out with a deathbed confession.”

Mr Blair first became friendly with McRae at Glasgow University and later acted as his driver during election campaigns.

McRae left Glasgow on Good Friday in 1985 to spend the weekend at his cottage near Dornie, Ross-shire, but was found dead at the wheel of his car the next day.

He had suffered a bullet wound to his head and after a pistol was found near the car, it was ruled that he had committed suicide.

Despite a number of perplexing factors – that two shots were fired, for instance, or that a neat pile of his belongings was found by the side of the road – a Fatal Accident Inquiry was never held.

Mr Blair said that McRae’s family had been put under pressure to not call for an inquiry because “unpleasant things” would emerge.

I have never accepted the suicide verdict. It’s not the way he’d done it

Donald Blair

But he added: “They’ve had 30 years of speculation and hurt and they’ve lived with it. But I do suspect Willie’s brother Fergie [Dr Fergus McRae] now wishes there had been an FAI.

“It is very strange that if a person falls from scaffolding in front of 50 people in what is an obvious accident, an FAI is held. Yet when a prominent legal figure and politician dies in mysterious circumstances on a straight stretch of a Highland road, no questions are asked.

“I have never accepted the suicide verdict. It’s not the way he’d done it.

“I think we owe it to him to do what we can to find out what really happened on April 5, 1985.”

However, Mr Blair disputed claims McRae was gay, saying: “I’ve never seen a scrap of evidence to support that widely circulated rumour.”

McRae was seen with a briefcase full of papers, which he showed to his friend PC Donald Morrison with the words: “I’ve got them this time.”

Two weeks ago, we revealed that private investigator Iain Fraser – who recently passed away – believed McRae had a dossier on a high-ranking paedophile network. He was said to have made photocopies of the document before he left for the Highlands, which were posted out to a number of close associates.

Just months after McRae’s death, Geoffrey Dickens MP spoke in the House of Commons about being put on a “killer’s hit list” due to his campaign to expose powerful paedophiles.

It also emerged last month Police Scotland had set up a team of detectives to investigate claims of child abuse involving the late Solicitor General Sir Nicholas Fairbairn and others.

Alan Draper, the academic who is leading calls for a public inquiry into historic child abuse in Scotland, said claims of an abuse cover-up at the highest level must be properly investigated.

He said: “We need a judge-led inquiry with statutory powers, looking at who did what and why was it covered up by all institutions, including the state.

Governments throughout the UK are anxious about what will be revealed because its pretty clear there have been cover-ups.”